I'll Never Understand

(Bernadette) The killers You’ve invaded my nights Singing your haunting lullaby Drowning other voices Choking, suffocating, numbing Sending me to sleep You’ve awakened me many mornings Like an unexpected alarm Shattering my dreams Confusing, terrorizing, traumatizing I’ve talked to you in tears and anger Spat on you in rage Whispered to you in sorrow Tied you in chains Thrown you in jail I’ve pulled you out Asked you many questions Knowing there would be no answers... (Shad) I’ll never understand how flesh being torn apart feels Or how after all this suffering a heart heals On the rich green fields where they killed old and young Cold and numb, under the light of a golden sun It still stuns, tell me what possesses man To, in anger, raise his hand? I’ll never understand... (Bernadette) I tied you in chains Again and again, round and round Until the chains, in my dizziness Bound me to you You and I becoming one! Bound by the chains of hate I knew then the choices to make... (Shad) I’ll never understand how it felt When my mom lost her dad Her sister and the only brother that she ever had And I’ll never know what’s more sad The fact they could’ve been spared Or the fact that to this day nobody cares For the innocent Victims of a full-fledged holocaust Because folks only holler if the cost Of dollars lost is high So regardless of the number of lives When poor blacks die They always turn a blind eye And I’ll never understand why... (Bernadette) I untied the chains Letting go of those who converged on my dad Beating, pounding Leaving him dead I untied the chains Letting go of those who propelled the grenade Scattering my brother’s brains I untied the chains Letting go of those who knifed my sister’s throat Leaving her begging for a better death I untied the chains Painfully, purposefully Knowing the one who said to do it Seventy times seven Totally understands the depth of my pain... (Shad) I’ll never understand how people can go on and live The miracle of finding the strength to forgive To resurrect peace, to close up wounds so deep They pierce souls beneath heart beats To be a willful slave to a loving God’s commands The key to a freedom that I’ll never understand